Get Connected!

If you are a teacher  and searching for a great place for your students to globally get connected I've found just the place! It is called ePals. EPals can open your students eyes to a whole new world. Experience new cultures without leaving the classroom, students can create project with students around the world, and collaborate. As a teacher you can set up an ePal group for your class by simply signing up for an account. After you've signed up there are a million options to choose from. It is important to choose the language your students will be speaking or writing, what grade or ages they are,  what kind of project you are looking for, and choose a region you are interested in connecting with. For example, if you are an EFL teacher you may look for somewhere in France or Spain because students there will speak French or Spanish. Some projects you can choose from include: penpals, skype/video chat, or project workspace. EPals also has a feature where you can pick the subject area or choose from the Common Core standards which includes: Art/Music, Language-learning, Science, Reading, Writing, Social Studies, Math, Culture,Literature, Informational Text, Writing, Math, Speaking and Listening, and Language. The learning choices are ENDLESS. A class project  I came across that caught my attention was a Discussion Circle Project with writing. Students can choose to work alone or collaborating with partners in the classroom and around the world. Students have the option to work and learn new things from their ePals from another region, who could possibly have new learning strategies or ideas the students could learn from. Another simple, but great idea is to connect to another region and become penpals with these students to learn more about their culture, community, region, what games they like to play, what music they listen to, etc. This is a good way for students to focus on writing, learning more about someone else's culture, and work on their communication skills. When students are a part of an online collaborative learning community, powerful learning takes place. Having the correct digital tools, like wikis, blogs, forums, email and media galleries, all in one place make for a rich learning environment ready for collaborative and interactive project work...

As a future ESL teacher I would be willing to try out many of the tools offered on ePals. It is important when choosing a project for your students to keep in mind their learning level. You don't want to pick an activity that would be intimidating for your students. Therefore, I would hypothetically say I have "newcomer" students. Therefore, a project I would be willing to try out with my students would probably first be penpals. I would like my students to practice with the English language and find penpals that are also practicing English as a second language. Then, the students are on the same level. While writing their penpals I wouldn't give the students too many guidelines. They could write as they wish, with my assistance, and get to know their "pal."After the students got good with penpaling we could move to video chatting or skyping because it would feel more real for the students and they can socialize a little while practicing English. Both penpaling and skyping are very authentic ways for learning.  I also like the project workshops. It seems amazing for students around the world to collaborate on the same assignment, but this kind of activity would seem more appropriate after connecting with your ePals first. I highly suggest teachers find more ways to make their content AUTHENTIC and ePals is one of them!

Twitter-chatter #Edtechchat

I had never heard of twitterchat until today. It's a shame. What a great communication device. I do believe that twitterchat is a great way for professional development. I came across a youtube video about President Obama and "The White House- Student Film Festival," I was amazed by Obamas' attempt to, within 5 years, demand technology in every classroom in the U.S. I would have never even heard of this unless I went on this twitterchat at this exact moment. I think that's incredible. How easy communication becomes. As a future teacher I could simply browse through all the posts and learn an extreme amount. I honestly never thought of twitter for this purpose until now. These chats can definitely broaden my horizons to future educating. I think because anyone is allowed to use the chat, the amount of information is endless. Twitterchat is a very simple way to find new information as a teacher, and also you do not have to even post anything if you don't want to. You can simply browse what other's have to offer, and possibly when you feel more comfortable sharing information you may do so. I also think the twitterchat is great because you never know what people will post. I came across a blog I had already seen, which I found to be ironic. I  really just think this chat can connect you to educators all over, which is important because each state, town, etc. is different. You can view others opinions and ideas in a second! Twitterchat is a nice way to develop your technology skills as an educator and keep update with new up and coming technology offered.

Connect-ivism. What is it?

I learned about Connectivism from reading one article called "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" and watching one video "The Network is the Learning."

A learner is like.. its own network field. In the fact that "the network is the learning". "That network enables me to stay current in my own field." One must continuously be keeping up with current information and be able to "cast light" on the rest of that network. It's like blogging. People find out new information and want to share it with the rest of their network, and that's also where the people are learning from too! By sharing and receiving new information you are learning new content all the time, without even realizing it some of the time. "We derive our competence from forming connections." 

"Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than we know today." This fascinates me. Years ago, who would've known we would be learning this way. Connectivism IS the up and coming way of learning. Think about it. Students no longer need a teacher, they have the internet. Now I'm over exaggerating, but a lot of information kids want to know about they can find out on their own. This is why we, as teachers, need to become familiar with things such as networking. "The starting point of connectivism is the individual." Students need to be able to connect with their own knowledge.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I recently viewed two extremely interesting videos for educators. I was shocked by the information I received, although I probably shouldn't have been. The first video I watched was The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler. At first the video seemed a bit odd, but give it a chance. It is all about connectivism. It is a theory of learning which emphasizes the role of social and cultural contexts. It is definitely something educators should look into. Students could benefit greatly by building a personal learning network. And learning a tremendous amount from others. Sharing information with the rest of the world is how we continue to grow. Connectivism makes is easier for student to connect and can make learning new information fun! So, why do we need a teacher? They teach the 21st century student how to build a network by offering guidance and support. The teacher is there to help the student also differentiate between good and bad information as well. 

The other video is a long one, but well worth the watch! The Future of Learning, Networked Society puts a shocking new twist on teaching! First the video  touches on the fact that all learners are different. This is extremely important to realize as a teacher. I surprisingly found out that the origin of the education system came from the military. If you take a good look at a school, how we process students is like a factory. Sadly,students that don't conform to the system get medicated, such as students with ADHD. 

Now a days, if students want information they can simply look it up! "Knewton" is a brilliant new adaptive learning platform. The course figures out how and when you learn best which could be detrimental to some learners. Not everyone learns great in the morning. We can predict and prevent failure in advanced. It's genius! Showing every student has a path to success. So, why is our system failing? Standardized testing. You only take them once in your life, such as the SAT and that determines what colleges you get into, and then what? As stated in the video, it's a big scam and corrupting education. At the same time, we can't completely do away with assessment, and it is not going to change in a day..so what do we do?